Antigay Candidate Denounced by His Own Kids Gets Trounced in Missouri

Steve West, a Republican candidate described even by his children as racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic, has lost has bid for a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives.

West lost Tuesday’s election to Democrat Jon Carpenter, a three-term incumbent, by a margin of 63 percent to 37 percent, according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s website. Still, that means he somehow got more than 5,000 people to vote for him in the liberal-leaning Kansas City-area district.

West won the Republican primary in the 15th District by nearly 25 points in August, according to The Kansas City Star, but he was repudiated by the party and outed by his children as a bigot.

West spouts his views on a radio show, website, and YouTube channel in which he assumes the character of “Jack Justice,” usually wearing a wig and fake beard, the Star reports. He has associated homosexuality and Judaism with pedophilia, said participation in sports causes women to become lesbians, that Islam is not really a religion but instead a political movement, and that “Jewish cabals” are “harvesting baby body parts” via Planned Parenthood.

On a broadcast in January 2017, he said, “Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it,” according to the Star.

Then on a show last month, he denounced the U.S. alliance with Israel, saying, “They have been running this assault on America. They have been giving us gay marriage, pornography, abortion, everything that’s anti-Christian. … This is what they do. This is how they corrupt a Christian nation, because they are an anti-Christ people.”

“My dad’s a fanatic. He must be stopped,” his son Andy West told the Star in October. “His ideology is pure hatred. It’s totally insane. If he gets elected, it would legitimize him. Then he would become a state official, and he’s saying that Jews shouldn’t even have civil rights.”

His daughter Emily expressed concern as well and said she had encouraged her father to drop out of the race. “A lot of his views are just very out there,” she told the paper. “He’s made multiple comments that are racist and homophobic and how he doesn’t like the Jews.”

Steve West, 64, has contended that he doesn’t have anything against Jews or any other group per se, just some of the “ideologies” associated with them. He has also claimed his ex-wife turned his grown children against him. But when NBC News asked him about his beliefs, he responded with more of the same hateful rhetoric.

“When it comes to LGBTQ people, he doubled down on a previous claim that women’s athletics are a ‘breeding ground for lesbianism,’” NBC News reports. “He also claimed that homosexuality and pedophilia indeed ‘go hand in hand.’” He cited disgraced gay right-winger Milo Yiannopoulos as his source for the homosexuality-pedophilia connection.

Steph Perkins, interim director of Missouri LGBTQ group PROMO, expressed relief at West’s defeat. PROMO is “grateful that the voters in Missouri’s 15th District reelected Rep. Jon Carpenter,” he told NBC News. “Rep. Carpenter is a reflection of Missouri at its best, a Missouri where we care for one another, honor our differences, and are an ally to our LGBTQ neighbors who face discrimination.”